I would be remiss not to mention my addiction to Turkish serials with English subtitles. When I was in California while the boys were in school, I found some serials on my Netflix account and watched them on my iPad. The seasons are multitudinous in number of episodes; 60-100. The first serial I watched was called
Magnificent Century about the life and times of Suleiman the Magnificent in 16th C Turkey. There's a lot of harem intrigue besides empire expansion. Most of the action takes place in Topkapi Palace.
The second was Resurrection Ertugrul about the father of the founder of the Ottoman Empire (Osman I). Ertugrul was a warrior of the Kayi tribe, one of many Turkmen tribes that migrated from the steppes through the Fertile Crescent and Syria on their way to Anatolia. The first season had him fighting against the Templars and the second season he was fighting the Mongols. This takes place in the 13th C. They are living in yurts and herding sheep and goats. I was fascinated by how they lived and migrated from place to place. There are more seasons of both serials but not available on Netflix 😞.
The styling in the shows has inspired my home decor and dress.
 |
| Typical Turkman headdress |
 |
| new canopy for my bed |
 |
| Moroccan or Turkish coffee table |
The other show I watched was a 10-hour course on cake decoration. I have successfully made one buttercream and one fondant icing cake. I am prepared to make more should the need arise.
 |
| buttercream |
 |
| fondant |
I had other cooking triumphs for items I was never able to make such as Turnip Cake which is a dim sum item made from daikon radishes (thanks to Lee for the recipe) and chicken & almond Moroccan Pastilla. It's a big meat pie wrapped in filo dough and decorated with powdered sugar and cinnamon.
 |
| pan fried turnip cake |
 |
| Chicken and almond pastilla |
